Neighbors protest planned Manhattan skyscraper

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Two years ago the supermarket Pathmark closed down. Last year the development company Extell came in and is constructing what will be an 80-story luxury skyscraper at a site in Lower Manhattan. Now residents are outraged and are telling the city to stop the construction because they soon will be displaced.

Holding up signs, people living near the site are complaining about health problems, cracked walls in their apartments, and a sinking street, which they say are being caused by the construction.

The community feels they are being ignored. The department of buildings website shows the site was issued a partial stop work order and has two violations.

This skyscraper is a part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's housing New York plan. The city giving developers incentives, but they must have affordable units. In this case Extell will have 200 of them. Yet residents say the mayor is destroying their community.

I asked a construction manager at the site to speak to us on camera but he said Extell has no comment.

Residents aren't giving up yet. They have another protest set for March 16 outside Gracie Mansion.

Fox 5 reached out to the mayor's office, which released a statement saying in part "Many of the changes Mayor de Blasio has fought for would have likely resulted in a different project were this starting from scratch today."